If you’re getting advice from even the most seasoned World’s Toughest Mudder (WTM) contenders, be sure to take it with a grain of salt (or more appropriately, sand) because for the first time ever, the extreme 24-hour military obstacle course race will be held on never-before-experienced WTM terrain--the desert sands of Las Vegas.

Welcome to Tough Mudder Montreal, or more specifically, Bromont, Quebec, Canada. Today, like most days setting up a Tough Mudder (or running one), was filled with highs and lows. Let's start with the lows (because everyone likes ending on a high note).

On the weekend of July 12, 2014, Tough Mudder will be returning to the home of many a mud-coated memory, Kent Farms, a place as epicly awesome as the family that runs it. But as great as it feels to be back in Allegheny County, we're not here to get all sentimental. And while you'll just have to wait until this weekend to see what tantalizing tricks we have up our sleeve this year, Operations Supervisor Jen Mizono has been kind enough to dish out a creative ‘behind the scenes' sneak peek at what's to come this weekend. Her method?

Americans are a proud and creative bunch, and we’re proudly reminded of this every single time we sift through an event album on the Tough Mudder Facebook page. See for yourself—hardly a handful of photos can pass without finding the Stars and Bars displayed in the most ingenious of places.

So in honor of the 4th of July, we’re bringing you some of the most memorable appearances of Old Glory on course at Tough Mudder over the past year.

In 2010 at the age of 42, author and motivational speaker, Doug Grady, was in a self-described “mud-life crisis.” He was out of shape, deep in debt, drinking heavily and had an overall cynical attitude toward all things life. “Typically when men have a midlife crisis, they go buy a Porsche and find a 20-year old girlfriend,” Doug laughs. “But those things require money, and I didn’t have that.”

There have been a lot of questions about Sunday’s canceled event. We understand the frustration—we know you trained, traveled and were ready to take on the event, and while this was disappointing, there was no way around it.

This month, there’s little doubt Mudders put the May in mayhem. From the sunshine of Central Texas to the side-winding trails of Topeka; midway madness in Chicago to one of the muddiest Mudders in history in Ohio, a brave new wave of Mudders was initiated into Mudder Legion.

And in honor of your efforts, we’ve combed through thousands of photos in our eight May photo albums to bring you this month’s most awesome mud-coated memories.

Mudders, we've recently been in the news following a report about illnesses that related to the water and terrain of the course in Las Vegas in 2012. We want to take a moment to tell you about our work to minimize risk at every one of our events.